Sermon preached at Ichthus Church Edinburgh 06/01/2013
Mark 7:1-23
“Are we so dull?”
Failing to understand our greatest problem
A couple of weeks before Christmas a friends asked me how my new years resolutions had gone in 2012. Had I managed to keep them up and what are my new resolutions for this year 2013. It was a question that caught me out as I have never really made new years resolutions. But it is not an unusual question and something that many people take seriously. And so whatever your new years resolution there is quite literally no end of people willing to share their wisdom in helping you get there. And in the clamber for one person to be heard amongst the others there is an ever increasing trend. You see it on the magazines, you see it on the facebook ads you see it in the spam emails. Short cut is the name of the game. We are all impatient to achieve we all want success today or at least by tomorrow afternoon and those looking to sell you the the answer are cashing in on this tendency. They give us three easy steps, they promise results in 3 months, two weeks, 24hrs. And we go for it. Even though the promise seems too good to be true. We are a generation addicted to shortcuts and these shortcuts often have bad short and long term effects. The lady who loses weight too quickly and is left with rolls of excess skin that won't shrink back. The man who gains muscles too quickly by taking steroids left with bad joints and weaker than he started out. The workaholic looking to retire early who works 24/7 and blows his adrenal glands. The young women fast tracked to fame who overdoses because of loneliness. The banks fastrack to fortune that brings the worlds economy to its knees.
And where is the lie in all this? Its the building of the roof before the walls, putting on the icing before baking the cake. Focusing on the outward appearance, the short term gains without fully understanding the consequences. We need a fuller understanding of the big picture. but this is not a new problem or a new propensity of humankind but instead an age old problem with a timeless solution.
Let’s turn to our Bibles and see what Jesus has to say on the topic. Mark 7:1-23
As we look at this discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees we see that the Pharisees too believed that they had found the shortcut the winning formula for life. And they were devoted to it and very very sincere. These were the pastors and ministers of the day. They were committed 110% you couldn't accuse them of slacking off or being half hearted in their devotion. It was this devotion to their teachings that led them here to confront Jesus about the behaviour of his disciples. But what they find in reply from Jesus is not a apology and a scolding to the disciples but full on reprimand. "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honours me with their lips but their heart is far from me." Jesus then goes on to detail the practical outworking of this in the lives of the pharisees and the scribes. First he explains the true source of religious authority (vv. 6-13), and secondly the true nature of impurity (vv. 14-23).
These are the two points I would like to look at this afternoon. So first the true source of religious authority. A underlying thread of the Bible in relation to mankind is our rejection of our maker. In the beginning God spoke creation into being through the power of his word. And in the book of Hebrews 1:3 we read that this world is upheld by the word of His power. Like society is upheld by the power of the word of the law set down by the government. The world is created and sustained by the word of the law of God. We see this outworking when we look at nature with the scientific method and see that the physical world is governed by a set of laws and we see it in spiritual life that relationship is governed by a set of laws. Disobedience, unforgiveness, lies all breakdown relationship. Going against the word of God's law breaks relationship. First and foremost with our primary relationship with the Lord God and as a result with one another. This is what the Bible calls sin. A little word with big consequences. We all sin by nature and by choice. In Romans 3:23 Paul puts it like this. All sinned (that is broken God's laws) and have fallen short of the Glory of God." That is we have all fallen short of giving to God his full due, his full worth. All this boils down to a few simple facts. We are created beings who without question owe our allegiance to our creator without whom we cease to exist. God in creation placed us as spiritual beings in his likeness into an ordered physical world governed physically and spiritually by laws for relationship with himself and one another. But he did not create us as unthinking drones but gave us choice. And that choice allows us follow the laws of God or not. Collectively as a human race we decided not to and continue to do so on a daily basis. That is why we see breakdown of relationships everywhere in the spiritual with wars and injustice and in the physical world with earthquakes and drought because both are interdependent.
But surely if anyone knew this it would be the Pharisees and Scribes. They were the experts in the law written down in Scripture. So where had everything gone wrong. Well like most of us they had found a shortcut, a work around, a loop hole, a simplified three step process. You see God in the beginning created us to be in relationship with him and with one another. And as we know relationships are not a three step process, you can’t shortcut your way into a relationship. Yes there are rules that guide relationships but they are not an ABC programme. Relationships are about giving, sacrifice, love, fellowship, encouragement, vulnerability, trust and selflessness and the list goes on. The Pharisees however had got the wrong idea. Instead of reading the words in the Bible and understanding the reason behind them, relationship, they instead saw God’s commands as a list of Do’s and Don’ts. And as a result they turned God’s law into a religion. Over time they worked the loopholes, found the shortcuts and played the system and passed this practise down from generation to generation. It was no longer a relationship but a religious system of rules. An exclusive club for those in the know. They had become religious about their relationship with God.
And of course it is at this point that we all shake our heads and say yeah yeah those Pharisees and Scribes they had it so wrong its a good thing we have it right. These Pharisees sound a little crazy washing their hands a little too much and all their pots and pans.
But you don’t have to be a Pharisee or a Scribe in the first century to fall into the same traps of religion. We are all prone to the same. It doesn’t even matter if we call ourselves a Christian, religious, spiritual or atheist. We all by nature and choice sit in the seat of the hypocrite. We don’t even need to be thinking religiously. If we simply just try and live up to the standard of our own moral code our own moral authority with the standards that we portray to others. We can’t even manage our own moral standards without falling down. We want others to be truthful with us but then fall down in our own truthfulness. We want others to be generous with us but then fail to be generous with others. We keep changing the rules to suit our situation. We say sometimes the truth is too hard to handle, a white lie doesn’t do any harm. Or that person doesn’t even deserve my help. We put a positive spin and we always end up the good guy in the end.
And if we think of the Pharisees religiousness we see that they don’t just claim to be morally upright people but they claim to follow the God of the Bible. They claimed that their religious standard is the word of God but instead they too have slipped into hypocrisy. They too are changing the rules. And Jesus gives an example where the Pharisees had taken a Biblical command in which there was no uncertainty about what it meant and yet they have found a short cut, a loop hole, a way out. Well they say if anything is due to our parents we will give it to God instead. And as a result they look all the more holy, they look like they are following the commands of God when in actual fact they are doing the complete reverse. Replacing the Authority of God for their own traditions that go against the very word that God has spoken. Instead of building relationship they are breaking it down and claiming God’s authority to do it.
And what of those of us that call ourselves Christians? We go to church regularly? We read our Bibles? We Pray? We have our quiet times? We do Christian Coffee. Some of us even play in the Church Band!
Is this what we are called to do? Do these things show that we are Christians. Is this the fruit of our lives that the Lord is looking for? Or are these just our new evangelical Christian traditions? Are these just our badges of holiness like the Pharisees washed pots?
You know being a Christian is not about what we have to do it’s about what we get to do. As we talked about earlier being a Christian is about being in a relationship. Jesus has restored us into this relationship at unimaginable cost to himself. On the cross he suffered everything for our sake. And he has invited us to be on mission with him. That means that we have responsibilities, we have a job to do. We are the Church of Jesus Christ ambassadors to a broken world that needs a Saviour, and we are the ones who know him!
But at the moment we are doing a great job of keeping him a secret. We are happily bumbling along doing all the things that are meant to revive, refresh, encourage and sustain us, like fellowshipping together as a church, praying together, reading our Bible, yet we have not even been getting stuck into any of the work. Jesus calls us to be on mission, to make disciples of all nations. Hows that going? Have we brought anyone to Christ recently? Have we ever? Have we discipled someone from infancy in Christ through to maturity? Are we fighting for Justice, Prophesying, laying our hands on the sick in prayer, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked? Sound like an impossible job. It is!
That is why we need to be in relationship with Jesus drawing strength from God’s word in communication with the Lord in prayer, meeting with other believers for encouragement. But we have got things all the wrong way round and we are doing all this first and forgetting the rest. It has become just a tradition to us. Just a religion and not a relationship on mission together.
Have you ever struggled with your Bible reading, your quiet time, your prayer life? Want to know why? It’s because it’s become just a religion to you something you have to do to prove something to yourself. If I read my Bible and pray everyday then i’m alright... and we feel guilty when we don’t and we kick ourselves. Grrr must do better next time. I’ll start again tomorrow. This might sound a little controversial but we struggle because we don’t need it. if we are not on mission with Jesus everyday we don’t need to pray. We don’t need to spend time hearing from him or talking to him in prayer!
However if we are on mission with Jesus we can’t afford not to be in prayer, not to be learning all we can from God’s word and growing in relationship with Jesus. This is what Jesus was talking about. We call ourselves Christians and then get too busy with our traditions to even notice that we have missed the point. We are too busy trying to look like Christians that we have forgotten what a relationship with Jesus is all about. And in this we are more like the Pharisees that we care to admit. Our religious authority is not rooted in God’s word that is in relationship with Jesus but instead rooted in our traditions.
And this brings me onto the second part of the passage the true nature of impurity. And I just want to make a few comments about this as it builds on the first point. The pharisees with their outward cleansing were trying to work for an outward holiness with their traditions. And we can do the same with our moralism or Christian traditions and when we fail, if we don’t just excuse ourselves, what do we do next time? We just try harder. Well this understanding our our sin problem, this understanding of our broken relationships, is the wrong way round. And this is exactly what Jesus explains to the Pharisees. Vs 18 onwards
Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus Hedeclared all foods clean.) 20And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well asdeceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
We cannot therefore sort out our sin problem, our relationship problem from the outside in. Clean hands doesn’t do it, trying to be a good person doesn’t do it, Reading the Bible every day doesn’t do it because the problem is on the inside. its what we talked about right at the beginning. When we decided to say No to God in the beginning there was a change right at the very heart of our nature.
“The heart of the matter, is the matter of the heart”
Only when we change on the inside do we then change on the outside. Clean hands don’t do it. Being a good person doesn’t do it. Reading the Bible every day doesn’t do it. Its a relationship issue and that is the true nature of impurity. So how is our relationship with Jesus?
Now my hope and prayer is that this sermon would not bring about a worldly guilt and sorrow but a Godly sorrow of conviction as Apostle Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
You see if we just feel a worldly guilt about what we have been talking about and try harder then this leads to death because nothing changes. The heart remains the same. But instead if we let the Holy Spirit convict us with a Godly sorrow then this leads to life because there is a heart change. A repentance, literally a 180 degree turn around.
And I will let you in on a little secret its the best decision you will ever make. It is not an easy decision because we live in a broken world and we are on mission with Jesus, but it is a decision that leads to eternal life, John 17:3 knowledge of the Lord that is the knowledge that comes through deep relationship. And with it Joy and Peace in all circumstances because our Joy and Peace are rooted in God that never changes Hebrews 13:8.
So decision time. What is it going to be? Try harder or heart change!
Maybe you are here this morning and you haven’t taken that first step of accepting Jesus into your life. Maybe for a while you have been trying harder but have realised that its just not working and you have realise this afternoon that what you need is a heart change.
This just requires three simple steps.
First to Admit that you are a sinner and be willing to repent, a 180 degree turnaround from your sins
Then Believe that God’s only provision is in Jesus - his death and resurrection
And Finally Commit your life to Him, put your faith and trust in Jesus.
And perhaps if you are a Christian here this morning and you would like to recommit to being on mission with Jesus. We can all join together in prayer.
Let’s close our eyes and bow our heads.
If you are here this morning and you have not committed your life to Jesus but would like too perhaps while we all have our heads bowed you can raise your hand as a way of stepping forward and declaring that today is the day of decision.
If you are a Christian here this morning and would like to just say to Jesus I want to make a decision to be with you on mission to a broken world. Perhaps you too would like to just raise your hand and join us in prayer as we say together.
Dear God,
I admit I am a sinner and need your forgiveness; I believe that Jesus Christ died in my place paying the penalty for my sins; I am willing right now to turn from my sin and accept Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and Lord. I commit myself to you and ask you to send the Holy Spirit into my life, to fill me and take control, and to help me become the kind of person you want me to be.
Thank you Father for loving me,
In Jesus name
Amen
